Alabama State Rep. Mack Butler has introduced the Alabama Unborn Child Protection from Dismemberment Abortion Act. HB376 will receive a public hearing in the House Health Committee, thanks to Chairwoman April Weaver (R- Shelby). A hearing has been scheduled for tomorrow.

State Sen. Phil Williams has also introduced SB363, a companion bill, in the Senate. The Senate Health Committee will also hold its hearing on Wednesday.

Dismemberment abortions involve introducing a sharp instrument which is used to grasp and pull the child out, piece by piece. The child is alive during this torturous process and dies of bleeding out during the dismemberment.

The Unborn Child Protection from Dismemberment Abortion Act, is based on model legislation provided by the National Right to Life Committee. It is now the law in four states: Kansas, Oklahoma, West Virginia, and Mississippi. This vital legislation has also been introduced in Pennsylvania, Minnesota , Idaho, Nebraska, Missouri, Louisiana, Rhode Island, and Utah.

Bill Klein, President of Alabama Citizens For Life, stated “Alabama children should be protected by law from being torn limb from limb. No human should die this way in a civilized society. It shows a total disrespect for the sanctity of human life.”

In his dissent to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2000 Stenberg v. Carhart decision, Justice Anthony Kennedy observed that in D&E dismemberment abortions,

“The fetus, in many cases, dies just as a human adult or child would: It bleeds to death as it is torn limb from limb. The fetus can be alive at the beginning of the dismemberment process and can survive for a time while its limbs are being torn off.”

Alabama State Sen. Phil Williams

Justice Kennedy added in the High Court’s 2007 Gonzales v. Carhart decision, which upheld the ban on partial-birth abortions, that D&E abortions are “laden with the power to devalue human life…”

Cheryl Ciamarra, National Right to Life’s Board Director from Alabama, commented, “We are hopeful Speaker of the Alabama House of Representatives Mike Hubbard will allow a Pro-Life day with a number of these measures as he has in the past. Now is the time when this type of common sense legislation to go forward.”

There are only seven days remaining in the current session.

Concerned citizens are urged to Contact House Rules Committee Chairman Mac McCitcheon at 334-242-7673; and Speaker Mike Hubbard at 334-242-7668 to ask that pro-life bills be placed on the Special Order calendar for a fair vote by the full House of Representatives.

Even some generally pro-abortion members may support the Unborn Child Protection from Dismemberment Abortion Act. Alabama has a long tradition of respect for human life.